Overrated Olympics could cost the Pens another shot

Are you looking forward to seeing Konstantin Koltsov and how well he does? Me either. Can you really

Me like Russian TANK!

and truly name two players on TEAM Latvia? I didn’t think you could. You see IMHO this is a mostly overblown event and many of the hockey lemmings jump on the Olympic bandwagon without ……

………. thinking about it too much.

Will there be a chances to see good games, sure there will… but Gawd forbid anyone to even suggest it’s an over-hyped event.

I expect to get some flak over this…. but seriously, are you looking forward to seeing how the players from Düsseldorf are going to do? I didn’t think so. Maybe Martin Gerber will get seen and some NHL will sign him. LOL. Maybe there will be another Miracle On Ice ? I don’t think so.

There are 12 countries represented and most of you reading this would be hard pressed to name all of the countries participating let alone the abundance of players that would have a tough time making the WB/S Baby Penguins roster. Think you can name all 12 countries without looking them up? Go ahead try it… bet you a case of Donnie Iris’King Kool Light you can’t.

Circle this date right now so you won’t forget… Team Canada faces Team Norwayin Vancouver on Feb. 16. See, I’m giving you a freebee with Norway or did I just make that up!

Here’s another one: Who won the 2006 Games? They were held in Turin, Italy BTW. Here, I’ll help you with that answer too… it was Sweden. Do you recall who they beat? Who won the Silver medal and the Bronze medal? You probably can’t without looking it up. In fact, right now you can’t be sure if Krzysztof Oliwa or Lasse Pirjeta are on team rosters are you.

The combined NHL salary of Team Canada comes in at $120 million based on this NHL season… and the Canadian’s are offering extra prize money depending how well they do!

So much for amateur aspect of the Olympics, eh.

Could Chris Drury make the Penguin squad let alone wear an A?

The only thing left for Crosby is winning an Olympic Gold. Scott Niedermayer, a HHOF player is the Canadian captain… A HHOF player for sure – but not this year he isn’t. I’m hoping Canada wins it all because I got a Crosby sweater with an “A” on it for a Christmas present. Funny, the sweater manufacturer’s knew who was going to have the A’s and the C way before it was announced.

The NHL is shutting down operations for 14 days and it is costly. The season started earlier and teams are regularly playing 4 games a week. Somebody is making a lot of money around the Olympics and they promote it well. But it’s not the NHL and it’s not the players so who are making the money. No one talks much about it because the games are played out in the media to be the best of the best. I can’t wait to see who wins those starting goalie positions for Switzerland and Belarus… can you?

It nets out like this… the Olympics get all the rewards and the NHL bears all the financial risk. Let’s say that Ovechkin or Crosby or Fluery or Gonchar break a leg in Vancouver, it might cost Russia or Canada the Gold Medal but it could kill the Penguins or Capitals chances of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Which one would you rather see, given the choice? Russia or Canada win the Gold at the Penguins chance to repeat?

I think from a fan’s standpoint, if it’s one of four teams playing it’s exciting to watch… other than that however… go watch the Hershey Bears play. It’s not that I won’t watch them – it’s just not fair to the NHL season ticket holders and is more for the TV fans who most times aren’t sure why figure skating isn’t the event being shown.

I already can’t wait for hockey to get back to hockey… and hopefully Gonchar, Fluery, Orpikand Malkin return without any wear and tear… and we get a clean shot at a repeat.

17 Comments

I agree in as much as the Olympics are — well, should be — about the best “amateur” players from participating countries, period! I placed amateur in quotes, because I’m not stupid enough to beleive that it is a simple task to determine exactly who amateur players are these days, and that it gets more difficult every year — lots of blurry lines on this ice. Regardless, NHLers do not belong. Period to that too! I sincerely hope the NHL doesn’t renew the agreement with the Olympics. That being said, I’ll be watching, and I’ll enjoy. I like hockey. But I will be wishing Crosby, et.al., were skating in an NHL game where they belong.

The Olympics were to be about showcasing the best player in the best game with the intent of growing the game in more non-traditional places. But, what the output has been is that the world-class players are coming from Canada, Russia, the USA, and Sweden. Even the Czech team which was thought to be the next powerhouse has fallen to nothing but average. Think not? The Czech Republic haven’t had a player drafted in the first two rounds in the last two years. Shattuck Saint Mary’s high school does better than that! I’ll be watching the games but I wonder if this hasn’t turned into something more like an all star game. We’ll see if Orpik tries to take Crosby’s head off with a big check or will he lay out Malkin. If he does do you jump out of your seat and cheer?

The better teams in the NHL have the most to lose. Not just the Penguins. The Sharks has 8 players going. The Pens and Washington have 5 but they are key quality players. The Ducks and Maple Leafs have 13 between them——- wow——— the Maple Leafs????

Then you knew those Canada Cups took place prior to the NHL season. Your statement that I should watch world juniors or minor league or college hockey doesn’t have much do do with anything. Especially if you consider the Penguins vs. Flyers to be minor league to friggin Kazakhstan vs. Italy. Weren’t the Katzenjammer Kids from Kazakhstan?

Me… I’ll stick to the Pens/Flyers games… not that a Russia or US vs Canada wouldn’t be good game to see as long as none of the Pens players got hurt.

I do not consider a Pens/Flys came minor league, but I do get to see the Pens play the Flys 7-14 times a year. Kazakhstan vs. Italy is a game I would not care about, the same goes for Edmonton vs. Carolina, I don’t think they should cancel the NHL because Edmonton plays Carolina. Olympics is hockey at the top level, the finals will be the best players vs. the best players, unless the U.S. makes it to the finals then it will be the players Burke picked vs the best players.

The Olympics are not hockey at the top level except for the teams from Canada, Russia the USA and Sweden are pretty good. The other teams are not quality at all.
The Wash Capitals have Backstrom,Ovechkin, Green, Semin are much better than the Flyers and with a healthy Varlamov would beat just about every team in the Olympics and that would include Russia because Ovechkin, Semin and Varlamov wouldn’t be on Russia’s team. A think a healthy Penguin team would do the same too in my opinion and San Jose for that matter. Teams in the NHL play as teams and not a gathering of all-stars. These Olympic games have a chance to look real close to an all-star game.

[You are saying the NHL games are on a higher level?]
No. What I said was there are (4) good teams and the rest (generalizing) are not. Do you really think that TEAM ITALY could beat the Penguins without Orpik, Gonchar, Fluery and Malkin? Really?

[Quite possibly the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard.]
So you missed Ombama’s Stae of the Union? Just kidding.

[Though I haven’t read your other two comments on this post yet.]

Oh Yea? And I heard it doesn’t snow in Minneapolis in the winter time either.

I’m a big fan of the Olympics as I was with the Canada Cup – The idea behind the Olympics is that each country send’s it’s BEST atheletes to compete against each other. Watch World Juniors or minor league/college hockey if you want to watch a lesser skill level compete.

The WJC is a big event in Canada and Europe but not so big in the US. Minor Leaugue hockey is for the development of prospects and for career minor league players. None of these are on a caliber of the NHL. When you post that every country sends it’s best players it reminded me of the Jamacian bobsled team. That was Jamacia’s best bobsled athletes. They hardly were the best in the world.

No offense Bubba – but the Jamician Bobsled Team did not finish because they lost control of the sled and crashed. Doesn’t matter too much because you had the point go right over the point in your head which was – just because you send the best athletes in your country it doesn’t mean they are talented.
Also, don’t assume anything about my love for my country it makes your post (and therefore you) sound like some school boy flamer. Buckle Up Bubba.

The Jamician bobsled team did crash and burn in the 88 Olympics but finished 14th in ’92. In ’02 they finished 28th. They also make good rum and won the gold in the Rum Olympics. They drink rum and bang on the drum all day. It takes a lot of rum to be from Jamacia and do the bobsled. So that should be enough of that for the evening, eh.

What’s sort of an interesting story is that Zach McKelvie a prospect for the Boston Bruins has to do a two-year stint in the Army before he can play for the Bruins. McKelvie says it’s frustrating on one side but that he also understands. But he did reference that some of the athletes at West Point training for individual sports are allowed to train all year long. But they don’t stop those athletes. [ http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=307739 ]

McKelvie has a good point about the other athletes who train in individual sports at West Point. But aren’t most of these athletes compensated in one way or another. McKelvie signed on for an education with a two-year military commitment. It isn’t like he didn’t know what he committed to.